Color Me Blood Red
by Solain Rhyo
Summary: Xenosaga - Alone and powerless, Shion must face the living nightmare that is Albedo ...


"Finally alone, are we?"

A small gasp escaped Shion at the sound of the voice –_that_ voice- and she whirled around. Her hearing hadn't failed her; the speaker was indeed who she had feared it to be. He stood a mere several feet from her, arms folded across his chest. Clad all in white, his jagged cloak fanning out around him, he seemed bathed in holy light like some type of seraphim. Shion knew better.

How had he gotten onboard the Elsa? And for that matter, how had he gotten past all the security precautions to find her here? Suddenly Shion was very, very aware of how utterly powerless she was in the face of this man. If only KOS-MOS were functional ... but the android was under repairs, and wouldn't awake for several more hours. As for the rest of the crew ...

Watching her expressions flash wildly across his face, the speaker smiled, and it was anything but pleasant. "You need not concern yourself with your comrades. They have no idea I'm here."

Shion swallowed heavily, and backed a step. If Albedo was here, it could only mean one thing ...

"That's right," he confirmed, reading again the thoughts which passed within her large, frightened eyes. "That's why I'm here. No matter which angle I try to use to secure the Y Data, you are there to stop me. You and your toy," he indicated KOS-MOS' regenerative chamber with a flippant wave. "You two are most persistent, and I've all but run out of patience."

Shion had no idea what he was talking about; wasn't MOMO the protector of the Y Data? Albedo had drawn closer as he spoke, and now all that stood between them was the small chamber which housed KOS MOS. Now genuinely terrified, Shion began to wonder frantically how she would –if she could- escape this situation. While her mind roiled Albedo moved, leaping at her with a constrained power that fairly resonated throughout the lab. Shion threw herself backwards with a small scream, but he was too fast, unbelievably fast. With one hand securely knotted in her hair, he bent her slight frame back until she was cradled within his arms; with a whimper she had no choice but to follow him down as he sank to his knees.

"That's right," Albedo murmured, and there was a trace of his laughter, that mocking, maniacal laughter, in his words. With one hand still woven within the length of her ginger hair, he pulled her closer with one hand beneath her bent knees. Instantly she was reminded of the way he had held MOMO and the Kirschwassers, and with cold, infinite dread she realized what he was about to do. With a strength borne of utter terror she attempted to pull away, but Albedo possessed what she did not: godlike power. He pulled hard on her hair, bending her neck until she thought it would snap, and as her eyes watered in pain he smiled again.

"Don't fight, pêche," He said softly. And helpless to do anything else but that, she complied. His free hand rose and hovered palm up before her face, and she drew in a breath to scream as it lowered towards her ...

_Agony._ Rending, searing torment that threatened to turn her inside out; he was within her mind, sifting through her very thoughts as though they were grains of sand for him to toy with. Every personal revelation, every private memory was open for display, and with great relish he went through each and every one; defiled them. As if from a great distance she could hear a voice crying out, a plaintive sound of pain and rage, and realized it was her own. She could_ feel _him; feel his pleasure, his sadistic satisfaction as he took from her all he could find. And very suddenly she realized that when he was done, she would be no more than the Kirschwassers had been, a broken and empty shell with nothing left within ...

_NO! _

She couldn't be that way, she _couldn't_. And so she fought with all she had, all she could muster. He enjoyed her struggle; his laughter, tainted so clearly with madness, echoed all around her, reverberating through her anguished mind. It was hell, it was unbearable, but slowly she became aware of movement, her own movement, as she kicked and thrashed about in attempts to free herself from his hold. The more she fought, the more aware of herself she became, until finally his attention was drawn outside of her mind to focus on her squirming body ...

"Fiesty pêche," he said, and freed from his hold on her thoughts she stared at him with raw hatred. Light caught the ivory pureness of his hair, gleamed off the mirrors of his eyes, and she wondered faintly why the Kirschwassers had ever believed in him, why they had adored him in some twisted, sacriligeous way. He ran a gloved finger down her cheek before raising his hand again; readying it to comb through her inner self once again ...

A noise like that of steam rising thundered around them, and both their gazes fastened on the regeneration chamber as the lid slowly lifted.

"_KOS-MOS!"_ Shion cried breathlessly.

Alberdo growled, pulling savagely at her hair. He loosened his hold then, preparing to stand, to deal with the android in order to return to his work uninterrupted. Knowing she couldn't let him do that, couldn't let him harm her creation, her _friend_, Shion rolled away and into a crouch. He paid her no mind – she wasn't a threat. From the corner of her eye she could see KOS MOS rising, ethereal, as if from her tomb, and Shion knew she had to act ...

Her fingers found unerringly one of the pins from her hair, askew now because of his touch. Unthinking, she launched herself at him, screaming; taken off guard he fell beneath her sudden weight. Straddling him, hating him, she stared into his pale face for one moment before she struck, driving the pin directly into the center of his eye. He screamed and thrust her away with such force that she was airborne; hitting the far wall she slid limply to the floor as spots clouded her vision. Unable to breathe or move, she watched dazedly as KOS MOS attacked with infinite grace, leaping for Albedo and pinning him. They struggled, equal in power, but the struggle was over as the android took hold of the pin and struck again. The power behind the blow drove the small, intricate object directly through the bone, and Albedo's head exploded with so much gore, showering the pristine whiteness of the android and leaving her stained.

"Shion? Are you alright?"

It took her several tries to formulate a response; her lungs refused to work. When she could finally speak, she replied with a harsh gasp, "Yes ..."

KOS MOS knelt beside her, and helped her to sit up. And with the android's powerful arms around her, Shion wept, unashamed.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This was a challenge fic in which I was given a murder weapon and thirty minutes to create a death scene; while I fully realize that Albedo is nigh invincible, I took a bit of artistic license for this story.  That's what fanfiction is for, right?


End file.
